Foreign Cuisine Challenge
The Foreign Cuisine Challenge is a recurring challenge in Hell’s Kitchen. Overview During this challenge, each chef is given a random country with which to base a dish off of. Whoever has the best dish of the day (for the Black Jacket phase) or the team accumulates the most successful dishes wins the challenge. The purpose of this challenge is to test the chefs’ abilities to work with foreign cuisine. History Season 6 On episode 14, the challenge first took place when there were three chefs remaining, and was done as an individual challenge. Known as the International Cuisine Challenge, Ramsay had the final three lift one of three domes, revealing a flag that represented the country they were cooking. Ariel got China, Dave got India, and Kevin got Mexico. They then had 45 minutes to cook their dish. In addition, Vikas Khanna, Thomas Ortega, and Eddie Won were invited as guest judges. Dave's seared pork tenderloin with ming bean purée was deemed the best of the three, and he won the challenge. Dave was rewarded with a special lunch made by the three judges, got to spend time with his loved ones, and received a complete set of Demeyere cookware, which was the same used in Hell’s Kitchen. Kevin and Ariel had to prep the kitchen for that night's service, and polish the silverware. Season 10 On episode 5, the challenge took place when there were fourteen chefs remaining, seven on each team. Known as the Mexican Cuisine Challenge, both teams had 35 minutes to cook five Mexican inspired dishes which were burritos, enchiladas, soup, tacos, and tostadas. To collect their ingredients, they had to gather colored balls from a pinata. As only five dishes had to be judged, the red team sat out Barbie and |Robyn, while the blue team sat out Brian and Guy. In addition, Thomas Ortega and John Sedlar were invited as guest judges. Kimmie beat Royce on the taco round, Clemenza beat Danielle on the burrito round, Tiffany beat Justin on the soup round, and Patrick beat Christina on the enchiladas. Finally, Dana beat out Roshni on the tostadas, and the red team won the challenge 3-2. They were rewarded with a gourmet lunch at John Sedlar’s Rivera restaurant, and took salsa lessons, while the blue team had to prep for Mexican Night, which included making both the salsa and the tortilla by hand, and eat tripe. Season 11 On episode 7, the challenge happened when there were fifteen chefs remaining, eight on the red team and seven on the blue team. Known as the Chinese Dish Creation Challenge, each team had 40 minutes to cook six Chinese inspired dishes which were Chow Mein, spring rolls, dumplings, soup, fried rice, and stir fry. To gather the ingredients, both teams had to gather fortune cookies containing the ingredients, with Dan and Raymond controlling the blue team's choices, and Ja'Nel and Jacqueline controlling the red team's choices. As the red team had an extra person, Mary sat out. Jacqueline beat Dan on the fried rice, Jon beat Jessica on the stir fry, Barret beat Nedra on the spring rolls, Cyndi beat Raymond on the dumplings, and both Michael and Ja'Nel tied on the soup. Finally, Anthony won the Chow Mein round over Susan, and the blue team won the challenge 4-3. They were rewarded with paintball, while the red team had to clean both kitchens for the next service, make pot stickers and steam dumplings from scratch, and eat balut. Season 13 On episode 10, the challenge happened when there were nine chefs remaining, five on the blue team and four on the red team. Known as the Indian Cuisine Challenge, each team had thirty minutes to cook four Indian inspired entrées which included pork, lamb, chicken, and cod. To choose the ingredients, one chef from each team would use a tablet to slide the ingredients to their teammate’s protein, with Roe and Aaron using the tablet as their teammates directed them. In addition, Sachin Chopra was invited as a guest judge, and he and Ramsay judged the dishes on a 1-5 scoring each. Because the blue team had an extra person, Sade and Santos both cooked a chicken dish, and for judging, the former's dish was chosen. La Tasha scored 7 over Aaron's 5 on the lamb round, Sade scored 7 over Sterling's 3 on the chicken round, and Roe scored 5 over Bryant's 4 on the cod round. Finally, Jennifer scored 8 over Fernando's 7, and when the challenge ended in a 22 point tie, the red team won the tiebreaker as Jennifer had the highest scoring dish of the day. They were rewarded with a a spa day at Willow’s Spa, as well as Vitamix blenders as gifts, while the blue team had to prep for the next service, and clean the front entrance of the restaurant. Season 14 On episode 7, the challenge happened when there were twelve chefs remaining, six on each team. Known as the Greek Cuisine Challenge, each team had 40 minutes to cook a Greek inspired dish from six proteins which were lamb, prawns, squid, chicken, pork, and swordfish. Each chefs had to pick a protein by standing behind it. To gather ingredients, both teams had to smash plates containing the ingredients for their protein. In addition, Michael Psilakis was invited as a guest judge, and he and Ramsay judged the dishes on a 1-5 scoring each. Alison scored 6 over Josh's 2 on the lamb round, Bret scored 8 over Michelle's 3 on the prawns round, Meghan scored 9 over Milly's 6 on the squid round, Randy's perfect 10 beat T's 7 on the chicken round, and Adam's perfect 10 beat Christine's 8 on the pork round. Finally, while Sarah scored 7 over Nick's 5 on the swordfish round, the blue team still won the challenge 41-40. They were rewarded with Go-kart race track hosted by Miss California, while the red team had to remove the smashed plates from the floor and clean up for next service. Trivia *This is one of the few challenges where it was done in both the team format and individual format. *Season 6 is the only season where this challenge was done during the individual format. *This is one of the few challenges to produce a tie. Category:Challenges